Improving productivity of rice-wheat cropping system

The rice-rice production systems occupy 24 million hectares of cultivated land in the Asian tropics, while the rice-wheat system covers 22 million hectares in the Asian sub-tropics.

Rice-wheat is one of the important cropping systems covering an area of about 2.3 million hectares in our country. A major portion (about 57 per cent) of the rice-wheat area falls in the Punjab. The rice-wheat area of Punjab mainly covers Gujranwala, Sheikhupura and Sialkot districts. Some parts of Gujarat and Lahore districts are also included in the rice-producing area. This system is also well established in Jhang district.

Typically the Kallar belt is the genuine homeland of the ‘basmati’ variety. The pleasant and sweet fragrant basmati rice has the quality of elongation when cooked and the fluffiness that make it unique in the world. This particular basmati rice is found only in the Punjab .To grow more quality food from marginal/degraded land and diminishing water resources, there is a need to improve the productivity of rice-wheat system to make it more viable and eco-friendly.

In favourable production environment in these systems, farmers intensified their production methods using chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which resulted in better yield in the irrigated areas in 1965- 85. Reports show that increase in grain production is now threatened by stagnant yields and declining factor in productivity for both rice and wheat since mid-1980s. The decline in soil organic matter leading to a decrease in soil N and K supply, growing scarcity of surface and ground water for irrigation and the build up of insect and disease pressures are indicators of threat to ecological sustainability of the system.

Source: Dawn